Facet joints are the small stabilizing joints of the spine and can be painful for a variety of reasons. In an observational study conducted to analyze the success rate of facet joint injection, this procedure was found to provide good short-term relief from pain caused by a pathology affecting these joints. If the injection does not relieve pain, it may be because the injection did not reach the source of the pain or because the pain is not caused by facet joints. Facet joint blocks are usually ordered for patients who have pain mainly in the back as a result of arthritic changes in facet joints or for patients who have mechanical low back pain.
The doctor will spend considerable time evaluating the patient's condition before administering an injection into the lumbar facet joint or an injection into the cervical facet joint. Therefore, it was concluded that there was moderate evidence of short-term relief and limited evidence of long-term relief from chronic neck and lower back pain when facet joint injections were performed. When one or more facet joints deteriorate for any reason, the pain may radiate to other areas of the body. This may be due to increased spasms in the muscles surrounding the injection.
The increase in pain is usually temporary and lasts a few hours or a few days. Once the medication has a chance to work, the injection may work as expected and reduce pain. These problems cause facet joints to swell, causing pain that limits the affected person's mobility. If the swelling of a facet joint is severe enough, the inflamed tissue can compress the nerve that crosses it and cause symptoms such as numbness in the anatomy to which it provides sensitivity. A facet joint injection involves administering a steroid medication and a local anesthetic to the facet joints of the back to help relieve chronic spinal pain due to conditions affecting these joints.
Injecting into the facet joint reduces pain in the small joints at the back of the spine, between the vertebrae. If the medication is injected directly into the joint, the procedure is called facet intra-articular injection or simply injection into the facet joint. Facet joint injection is a minimally invasive treatment that relieves pain over a long period of time and helps the doctor identify the source of the pain. If the facet joint causing the pain was treated, the patient will begin to feel pain relief by the end of the first week after the injection. Any pain that the patient experiences after facet joint injections will seem bearable when it subsides in coming months.
This is a good way to strengthen your back muscles and determine if the injection was given into the correct facet joint.